Free Lake Eola yoga class draws an eclectic crowd

Instructor Frank De Le Cruz, in a voice low and soothing, guides 160 men and women practicing yoga on a grassy lawn at Lake Eola Park.

"Keep breathing, keep lifting. … Let the knees float to the left. … Take a few moments to honor your body. … Maybe sip in a little air and sigh it out. … Relax the arms, relax the forearms, relax the hands. … Take some time to absorb the moment."

The Sunday morning outdoor yoga class has grown to as many as 218 participants since October. The crowd is as eclectic as the yoga mats are colorful: white, black, Hispanic, Asian, young and middle-aged, mothers with children, a father and daughter, nimble longtime devotees and first-time walk-ins.

Sunday was the first time for Tony Mix, dressed in blue jeans, who saw the group yoga exercise while at the Lake Eola farmers market a week ago and decided to give it a try.

"It's the community feel to it. You are enjoying the outdoors. And the other thing is it's free," said Mix, 34.

Nearby was Nicole Irvine, a 29-year-old yoga instructor who likes the idea of the open-air, open-to-all exercise class.

"It's accessible to everyone," Irvine said. "There should not be anyone who feels uncomfortable."

And that's pretty much the idea behind Yoga In Lake Eola Park, said organizers Ryan Lynch and Amanda Reh: return yoga to the outdoors where it belongs and open it to everyone. Too often, yoga classes can be expensive and restricted to indoor studios, they said.

"Yoga was meant to be done outside," said Lynch, 33, who started practicing yoga in 2007 as an antidote to stress, depression, addiction and weight gain. "The spirit of it is anyone who comes can join up."

For the unprepared and impulsive, there are always extra yoga mats.

Following De Le Cruz's instructions, the participants lie on their backs and stretch their bodies. They sit up and raise their hands above their heads, palms together and lower them slowly to their sides. They stand and rotate their shoulders. They sigh out their sips of air with a collective groan.

They absorb the sun breaking through the clouds and breathe in the breeze that blows across the lake.

"It's relaxing. There's a clarity of mind. My blood pressure goes down," said Sara Philip, 26, who was doing yoga next to her 56-year-old father visiting from Fort Lauderdale.

The group has a Facebook page, but it grows mainly through word of mouth and walk-by traffic such as the three women passing by after visiting the French bakery nearby.

"I have done yoga. I need to do more yoga," said Janecia Roberson, still dressed for church. "We will be back."

Although the session from 11 a.m. to noon is free, Lynch and Reh accept donations, which come in the form of flowers, healing crystals and cash.

Lynch said the beauty of yoga is that it adapts to the individual: "It meets you where you are and takes you where you want to be."

For Reh, yoga is mind and body therapy in its simplest form.

"It slows everything down and helps me find peace and balance," she said. "And isn't that what everybody is searching for — some tranquillity?"